Peace Corps to Foreign Service

*SPOILER ALERT* This is a braggy blog post. I’m going to be a Foreign Service Officer.

Hey guys—I just got some crazy amazing news that I have yet to wrap my head around. Bear with me.

Ok, so when we last checked in I was waiting to hear back from grad schools. I had already been accepted to:

-Syracuse Maxwell School of Public Affairs (MPA)
-Duke Sanford School of Public Policy (MPP)

Since that time, I’ve received acceptances from:

-UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy (MPP)
-U of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy (MPP)
-Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs (MPA)
-Harvard Kennedy School of Government (MPP)

Aka I got in everywhere I applied. (WHAT?!?) Several of these schools gave me AMAZING funding offers. As time went on and I began hearing back from more schools, I began to get excited. When I got offered funding from Berkeley (1 yr tuition+$5,000), I was surprised. When I got the offer from Michigan (full tuition+$9,500 stipend per semester+health insurance) I was super excited. By the time I got the email from Princeton (who funds all of their students) I was literally so overwhelmed that I just cried big ugly tears—how in the world could this be happening to me? Princeton’s MPA program is my top choice, and I’m SO EXCITED to attend in the fall.

But wait. The good news doesn’t stop there.

I’ve been awarded a crazy fellowship from the State Department. Remember how I want to be a Foreign Service Officer? Well, check all over that. This fellowship has got it covered. Let me try and explain.

The Charles B. Rangel Foreign Affairs Graduate Program is a partnership between Howard University and the State Department. This program seeks to recruit candidates from underrepresented populations (i.e.: minorities) to serve in the Department of State’s diplomatic service (aka my dream job).

Graduate fellows complete a two year graduate program, and upon graduation, enter into the Foreign Service for a minimum of five (5) years. Fellows receive financial assistance to fund their studies, as well as funding for two (2) ten-week summer internships: one on Capitol Hill the summer before beginning the graduate program and one at a US Embassy abroad between the first and second year of graduate study.

TLDR; I have the next seven years of my life planned out EXACTLY the way I would have wished. Princeton’s MPA program even has an agreement with the Rangel Fellows program so that I will actually end up getting paid to go to graduate school!

Check it out, I’m a professional student.

I’m stoked; can you tell?!?

Shout out to my whole family in the States. We on the come-up, y’all!

I’ve got another month left in my Peace Corps Service and about a month and a half until I return to the United States. I’m going to do all I can to make the most out of the short time I have left in my Darien home. I can’t wait to see all my friends and fam in the States! Nos vemos pronto!

More Updates--Michigan, Rangel and d00k

Here are a few updates on the post-PC/grad school planning thing:

• The interview with Michigan went well, I think. I hear that the fact that they chose to hit me up for an interview is a good sign. I figure this means I'm already into their program, I'm just awaiting a funding decision. (I'm hoping to get a REALLY good funding offer from this school, because I need to get good funding offers from at least two schools to be able to negotiate a really good offer from the school I'll ultimately choose to attend.)
• After the Michigan interview, I recieved some good news via email--I'm a finalist for this year's Rangel Foreign Affairs Fellowship! I won't explain all of the benefits of the fellowship on this blog unless I am ultimately selected to recieve the fellowship, but suffice it to say that as an aspiring FSO looking for grad school funding, it would be the dream of a lifetime (I'm NOT exaggerating) and would help me fund any school that I choose to attend. (If you want more info about the fellowship, click here.) My interview is on March 10th and I recieve a final decision on March 13th. . .March 13th can't come soon enough.
• A couple of days ago, more good news rolled in. I've been accepted to the Master's of Public Policy program at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University! Duke gave me a pretty good funding offer that will cover 90% of my tuition costs, plus provide me with a $4,000 assistantship (think grad school version of work-study). Duke is certainly a school that I'm seriously considering for next year's studies (in no small part due to its location in my home state of North Carolina), but my decision will be heavily dependent upon the funding options that I end up with after all the decisions roll in and negotiations have been finalized--to be blunt, I'm not made out of money and I don't want to go into massive debt for graduate school!

Those are all the updates I have for now. There are some big dice rolls and decisions to be made during the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned! Hopefully this good news can keep up just a little while longer. Send me good vibes, peeps. I'll keep ya posted.